Her head is bent down in despair. Her mouth is drawn tight into a red frown. Across her arms, legs, back and torso are messages of opportunity lost because of budget cuts and tuition increases at California's community colleges.

The words, in red and black acrylic paint, were chosen because they illustrate the way of life afforded to people who don't have access to higher education.

Welfare. Minimum wage. Unemployment. No benefits. Fast food. Busboy.

They are being painted on a 5-foot fiberglass mold by students at Ventura College as part of the Missing Student Project. About 125 such statues are being painted and decorated by students across the state as part of an art project and political statement on the effects of budget cuts.

"One hundred seventy-five thousand students didn't get in the doors this fall because of budget cuts and fee increases," said Leslie Smith, dean of government relations at City College of San Francisco. "This is an opportunity to tell people things are not OK. People are not getting the education they need."

Smith came up with the idea last fall after reading an article about the Cows on Parade exhibit in Chicago. Artists and designers decorated cows, which then were put on display throughout the city. The project created a buzz and quickly drew thousands of tourists to the city.

She read the article shortly after a meeting on the decline in community college enrollment. Statewide, enrollment was down by 90,000 students last fall, and community college officials estimated another 85,000 potential new students stayed away.

In the Ventura County Community College District, enrollment was down about 2,200 students in the fall, and spring enrollment is down by about 1,600 students, district officials said.

Smith figured missing student statues decorated like the cows in Chicago could help draw attention to the budget cuts and their effects. She put a plan together to build the statues and to recruit students to decorate them. More than 60 colleges are participating.

"Not only are they fun and unifying, these statues are symbols of the quality of education people get in community college," Smith said.

The statues will be used to advocate for students as part of a three-pronged plan called MVP, Smith said. The M is for the March in March, a rally and demonstration March 15 in Sacramento; the statues will ride on floats during the march.

V is for vigil; organizers hope to use the statues for a vigil May 15, the day the revised 2004-2005 budget is expected to come out. P is for presentation; Smith hopes to present small ceramic models of the missing students to legislators and the governor in July. She also hopes a museum will exhibit the work.

"We'd like to keep the collection together because it shows the diversity of our colleges," she said.

Ventura County's missing student was purchased by the district's faculty union, AFT Local 1828. Art instructor Connie Jenkins, who sits on the union's executive board, volunteered to oversee the project, and six Ventura College students have spent hours coming up with and executing a design.

They decided to use their statue to show how many students in Ventura County couldn't enroll and how many classes have been cut because of budget cuts, Jenkins said. The rest of the statue is being covered with words depicting the effect of the denied access.

"I'm partial to the 'no experience necessary,' " said Tyler Threadgill, a 19-year-old art student from Ventura, as he used a small brush to paint letters on the statue. "Somebody with no skills, that's the only jobs they can apply for."

Daniel Bedoy, a 26-year-old student from Oxnard, said the budget cuts are discouraging to students because they have fewer classes to choose from and it takes them longer to complete their degrees. He hopes the art project helps lawmakers understand that.

"For the past couple of years, hundreds of classes have been cut, and because of that, students haven't been able to take classes. That affects our livelihood," he said. Lawmakers "should know we mean business and we might go to any means to fight their agenda."

Ellen Marie Piles, 47, of Ventura, volunteered for the project to aid her sons. Piles takes art classes at Ventura College, but her two sons, John, 22, and James Reid, 26, are both in college studying to be teachers and struggling to complete their degrees.

"It's important for these kids to have the classes and to keep the budget from being cut," Piles said. "They have a future if they stay in college, so it's real important that we get the message across."

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